


Orange-colored sky

by lanomano



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: M/M, Shapeshifting, rated t for cursing, some woodlands au idk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 12:16:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18234749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanomano/pseuds/lanomano
Summary: In a quaint little village, hidden in the leaves, Seungcheol becomes enamored with the grumpy hedgehog who moves in.





	Orange-colored sky

Sequestered in the heart of the woods and safe from any wandering souls, sits a small village, complete with copper rooftops and wooden fences not high enough to actually stop anyone from jumping over them. Although, the village was hidden so well that unwanted visitors were as rare as uncooked meat, so the residents were more than fine with the state of security (or the lack thereof).

Things around here go by like clockwork: the farmers and the family-tenders wake up early to prepare for the long day, followed by the young standalones who are zealous enough to want to prove their parents they can work and support themselves. The kids come next, running all over and not knowing how to communicate in ways that aren't screaming. Then, after everything's said and done, they'll retreat to their homes, or maybe have dinner at the tavern or the diner that's as old as the village itself. But whatever they choose to do, it's always silent right before midnight, not a single bark or chirp or screaming child to be heard. And then the sun rises, and everything repeats.

Seungcheol doesn't mind the routinely manner majority of the residents possess, though it's hard to deny it doesn't get a little boring. But there's a wedding coming up and he's been commissioned to make an arch for the altar, so he really has no time for complaining.

"Seungcheol!" a voice yells from outside the shop. "I have the bouquets you ordered!"

"Door's open." A bell tinkles faintly as a young boy steps through the doorway, bright-eyed and faintly flushed from running here, no doubt. "You can leave them on the table there, Chan."

"Are you done with it yet? Isn't it five days from now?" Chan asks, walking over to the man sanding down some planks.

With a grunt, Seungcheol heaves the arch up into a vertical position, examining the plain wooden beams and the same old perpendicular angles. He'd wanted to do something a bit fancier than this, but the couple had openly expressed not wanting it to be extravagant. That, and they wouldn't be able to afford any more, even if Seungcheol wouldn't have charged much extra for it.

"It's not the most ambitious thing I've made. It's pretty much done already." And it's true. The wooden frame is but one part of an arch, and is oftentimes a very simple one. "It's the flowers that really make them worth looking at."

Chan hums, "You say that now, but tomorrow I'm gonna find you adding claw feet and moldings, aren't I." The way it isn't really phrased as a question makes Seungcheol wonder if he's been spending time with Jeonghan lately.

"Not this time, Channie. It wouldn't be seen with all the flowers and cloth covering it anyway. Speaking of, when will the tapestry be ready?"

"It should be ready sometime later today," Chan reports, running a hand through his short-cropped hair. "Mr. Soo seemed like he really wanted to add—"

"Seungcheol!" Yet another boy enters the shop, except this time with more feeling. The small knick knacks lining the shelves and windowsills tremble as the door slams open, the bells sounding much louder than when Chan did it.

Chan only shouts before his body shrinks instantly, now in the form of a tiny baby hedgehog running in circles around a fallen hammer. The new boy doesn't look the slightest bit nonplussed, even as Seungcheol scoops up the little hedgehog with a towel and places him on the table.

"I have the cloth!" Soonyoung holds up the parcel like a trophy. "They just finished it, and it's really pretty! Mr. Soo's really pulled out the stops on this one."

"Did he now," Seungcheol says as he pulls the fabric out and- wow. Soonyoung wasn't exaggerating. "Oh. He did."

From afar it looks like a shimmery piece of cloth, but up close the hundreds of little flowers and stones become all the more apparent. Holding it up further reveals just how the little petals lead the eye wherever it pleases, flowing seamlessly all throughout. And it was still lightweight. This particular style of using flowers was practically Mr. Soo's trademark, but it was odd for him to make so much of it for a simple wedding arch.

"He has a new assistant, I think," Chan informs, now back in his human form. "I don't know where he came from though."

Soonyoung picks up a corner of the cloth and feels it between his hands. "I met him when I got the parcel. I tried asking him who he got married to but he just gave me this really strange look."

After gently taking the corner from the other's hands, Seungcheol folds the cloth neatly and puts in away with the bouquets. "Well, if he's helping the old man make stuff like this, I wouldn't mind not knowing where he's from."

Chan and Soonyoung glance at each other briefly. "You sure about that, Cheol?"

In his periphery, Seungcheol spots two wolf figurines he made years ago, one slightly smaller than the other and standing proudly above his work bench on a shelf. He looks away from them quickly.

"Well, maybe not a hundred percent," he admits. He heads into the kitchen and prepares out a bowl of strawberries for the two and sets it on the table. "But I wouldn't be in such a rush to kick him out."

"We're not trying to kick him out, Cheol," Soonyoung whines, plucking a ripe strawberry from the bunch. "He's really cute actually. I think you'd like him."

Seungcheol snorts. "Sure. Here, take a seat. You guys can rest for a bit."

As the trio converse while Seungcheol completes his smaller-scale commissions, the world outside continues moving forward. Someone's child learns to walk, an elderly lady celebrates her birthday, and a man slaves away at his work bench, stitching yet another flower and nearly pricking himself in the process.

Soonyoung and Chan take their leave right as the sun reaches its peak height in the sky, a town bell ringing to signify the noontime from a distance away.

With the bowl and used mugs washed and stowed away, now Seungcheol's just staring at the tapestry again with a contemplative look. A spiral effect on the posts would look good with it, he decides.

He recalls what Chan said earlier about him adding more details to what's an already finished product, but pushes those thoughts back and gets to work. The wedding is in five days time, so he has no time to be second-guessing. And if the couple raises any questions about the pricing, he'll just tell them to consider it as a discount.

Six days later and Seungcheol receives a letter from the couple themselves, thanking him for the arch. They said they were considering installing it in their new home somewhere, maybe around the main entrance. It's a bit of an odd choice, but Seungcheol doesn't care much about what they do with it now, especially when they added a little extra bit of cash with the letter.

Plus, he still has some leftover cloth, which he's hooing to use for future projects. Maybe he should start taking pictures of his products for...what, exactly? He can't promote his business on the internet and the whole village already knows he's the go-to craftsman. He can't imagine anyone from outside being able to find his address, in any case.

Seungcheol daydreams of what it's like to explore the world beyond the village and beyond the borders of the woods while he shops for more sandpaper. He gets so lost in his thoughts that he bumps into a mannequin he doesn't remember there being. Except, this one came with a wig that badly needed its roots retouched. It's glaring at him, in fact.

"Oh," he says.

The man cranes his neck up to scowl at him. "Watch where you're going." He's got an armload of felt paper and fabric glue, and Seungcheol suddenly can't stop staring at the guy's hands. They're quite pretty, he thinks, even with the bandage wrapped around his fingertip.

"...Sorry," he apologizes belatedly, stepping aside to let the other pass. The urge to crowd the guy in and hug him surfaces, though Seungcheol can't fathom from where.

The man gives him one last, slightly bemused look before heading towards the register where the owner's son has fallen asleep.

There are just a little under three thousand people residing here, and Seungcheol can list every single one of them if he wanted to. This person was not one of them, which leads him to believe the guy currently tossing empty gum wrappers at Hansol's head to wake him up was probably the new assistant Soonyoung and Chan mentioned before.

He's fairly young for someone who's supposedly married already, unless he's in a very committed relationship and just hasn't tied the knot with his partner yet. The thought of it makes something inside Seungcheol deflate a bit, and once again he's confused by his own instincts.

Regardless of what he feels, the man finally gets to pay and runs out the door, without a doubt creeped out by Seungcheol.

"Seungcheol?" Hansol calls, "You gonna pay for that or what?"

He shakes himself out of his reverie. "Right, sorry."

His run-ins with the admittedly small assitant don't end there. Now that Seungcheol's ran into him once, he starts running into him everywhere. In the farmer's market, again at the hardware store, near the school, and once at the public restroom. And every time, the urge to... _snuggle_ , for the lack of a better word, rears its head.

Their fifth encounter was at the tavern owned by his friend, while he's sipping down some much needed beer after a long day of logging and bucking out in the sun. The guy's sat at a corner booth with a single glass on the table, his elusive partner still nowhere to be seen.

"Got your eyes on someone, Seungcheol?" Seungkwan chirps, sliding a refilled glass of beer his way. Seungcheol takes it gratefully and tips it back, downing half of it in one go.

"No, nothing like that." The guy seems to be exhausted, with prominent rings under his eyes and a slouch to his posture. It makes Seungcheol's skin itch all the more.

"Is that Jihoon you're looking at?" Seungkwan wipes the table with a rag. "He's old man Soo's new assistant. Dunno how he got here though."

"Everyone's been saying that." He feels a little bad talking about him when he's less than a few good strides away. "I've never seen him with anyone."

"That seems pretty lonely, don't you think?" Seungkwan tops a precariously stacked tower of wine glasses with the final one, the glass gleaming under the overhead bulbs. "Even if no one's really sure of his methods, it'd be unfair to him if he gets isolated."

Seungcheol hums, finishing the rest of his beer. Seungkwan stares pointedly at him when Seungcheol when he doesn't move from his heat until the other notices he's being stared at.

"What?"

"Go talk to him," Seungkwan says in a way that implied Seungcheol has no option here.

"What?" he echoes, his face morphing into something that portrays his incredulousness better. "To him?"

The bartender waves a hand in the air. "Yeah. Everyone says you've got a nice, friendly aura or something. If anyone could help someone get integrated here, it's you."

"People say that about me?"

"Sure they do," Seungkwan affirms, already shoving another full glass in his hands and pushing him towards the man, whose name is apparenty Jihoon. "Now go."

As much as Seungcheol's alcohol tolerance was praised around the area, he still staggers a bit walking towards the guy, and ends up tripping over his feet and sloshing a third of the glass' contents onto his shirt. _Jihoon's_ shirt, that is.

"Shit," he curses, swiping napkins from the dispenser in a futile attempt to mop up the beverage. "I'm so sorry. Uh, _shit_."

Jihoon, after being stunned for a full second, bats Seungcheol's hands away and stands up to head to the washroom. "No, no, it's- it's fine," he says, already walking. Seungcheol follows him looking like a dog with its tail caught between its legs.

Unfortunately for Jihoon, the tap water does little to get rid of the large stain going down the front of his attire. Seungcheol's shoulders droop embarrassedly.

"I'm sorry. I should have been more careful." Jihoon stops wiping to look at Seungcheol.

"It's okay," he says, "I know how to remove beer stains, so it's not too much of a hassle."

"Still." Seungcheol scratches the back of his neck. "Is there any way I can make it up to you? Treat you to breakfast maybe?"

"What, aren't you worried about my partner getting suspicious?" Jihoon tosses the damp napkins into the bin while Seungcheol flounders.

"You have one?" he blurts out before retracting, "I didn't mean it like that."

Jihoon scoffs quietly. "I don't, but everyone seems to think I'm married. They get really weird looks in their eyes when I tell them I'm single."

"Yeah, well," Seungcheol shrugs, ignoring the little flips his heart makes, "That's just how it is here."

"I might take you up on your offer though," Jihoon says. "Think you can get me coffee tomorrow?"

"Coffee? Sure." Seungcheol holds his hand out. "I'm Seungcheol, by the way."

Jihoon stares at his hand for a moment before accepting it with his own. Seungcheol notices the bandages have been removed, revealing one pink nail with a cracked corner.

"Jihoon."

And it's here, in the bathroom with Jihoon's shirt stained with beer, where their relationship officially starts.


End file.
